Posted on Oct 26, 2015
Ohio scraps all executions until 2017 over drug shortages, Why won't the FDA allow import of a more powerful sedative from overseas?
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Ohio has postponed all executions until 2017 because it cannot obtain the drugs it chose after a 2014 lethal injection using different chemicals had the inmate appearing to gasp for air.
The move comes a few months after the Food and Drug Administration warned the state it could not try to import a powerful sedative from overseas.
Ohio is just the latest state to face execution delays because of drug shortages that began when manufacturers were pressured to stop selling their products to prisons for the purpose of putting inmates to death.
In January 2014, the state used an experimental concoction — a mixture of midazolam and hydromorphone — to kill Dennis McGuire.
McGuire, who was convicted of raping and stabbing to death a pregnant woman, took 25 minutes to die and appeared to be gasping for breath at points, witnesses reported.
The state scrapped plans to use that combination in future executions and said inmates would be executed with either sodium thiopental or pentobarbital — which it has been unable to obtain.
Its failure to find a source means that Ronald Phillips — who had previously won a delay with a request to donate his organs — is having his execution date pushed back an entire year until Jan. 12, 2017. Phillips was convicted of raping and murdering a 3-year-old girl in 1993.
The move comes a few months after the Food and Drug Administration warned the state it could not try to import a powerful sedative from overseas.
Ohio is just the latest state to face execution delays because of drug shortages that began when manufacturers were pressured to stop selling their products to prisons for the purpose of putting inmates to death.
In January 2014, the state used an experimental concoction — a mixture of midazolam and hydromorphone — to kill Dennis McGuire.
McGuire, who was convicted of raping and stabbing to death a pregnant woman, took 25 minutes to die and appeared to be gasping for breath at points, witnesses reported.
The state scrapped plans to use that combination in future executions and said inmates would be executed with either sodium thiopental or pentobarbital — which it has been unable to obtain.
Its failure to find a source means that Ronald Phillips — who had previously won a delay with a request to donate his organs — is having his execution date pushed back an entire year until Jan. 12, 2017. Phillips was convicted of raping and murdering a 3-year-old girl in 1993.
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 5
This is part of the community organizers plan to stop all executions in the USA. He said he was against executions during his first campaign but nobody listened and now he has found a way by using the FDA to stop the scheduled executions this year.
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SSgt (Join to see)
SFC Wade W. No one ever listens and that is problematic, because we are worried with 'Dancing With The Stars' and the Kardashians. On Donner, on Dasher. lol
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MSgt Curtis Ellis FDA is part of the Federal govt agenda to stop all deaths by lethal injection. No drug producer wants to sell and face the liability of the decedent's estate/family members, even of a conflicted felon on death row.
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CDR Terry Boles
LTC John Shaw
MSgt Curtis Ellis
The FDA is simply following its marching orders, believe me when I say the federal investigator in the trenches is simply doing their job of screening and confiscating illegally imported drugs into the US. I was assigned to the FDA for a tour of duty as a federal investigator for counter terrorism ops with imported products initially and there is an electronic list that is used for checks and balances of imported drugs. To bring a little insight into the daily working of the FDA, our US Congress dictates how many lab tests can be done annually for colors (red dye 40 as an example) in food items; talk about micromanagement.
The FDA federal investigator who initially allowed the controversial drugs into Arizona is a buddy of mine I worked alongside in the past and those drugs at the time were legal for entry in the US. After the botched execution the national and international politics changed, overseas drug manufactures faced massive political pressures, and the drug shortages began which led to correctional institutions seeking alternative means for execution of death row inmates.
The FDA itself has no vested interest one way or another; look no further that the political climate today further up the food chain.
MSgt Curtis Ellis
The FDA is simply following its marching orders, believe me when I say the federal investigator in the trenches is simply doing their job of screening and confiscating illegally imported drugs into the US. I was assigned to the FDA for a tour of duty as a federal investigator for counter terrorism ops with imported products initially and there is an electronic list that is used for checks and balances of imported drugs. To bring a little insight into the daily working of the FDA, our US Congress dictates how many lab tests can be done annually for colors (red dye 40 as an example) in food items; talk about micromanagement.
The FDA federal investigator who initially allowed the controversial drugs into Arizona is a buddy of mine I worked alongside in the past and those drugs at the time were legal for entry in the US. After the botched execution the national and international politics changed, overseas drug manufactures faced massive political pressures, and the drug shortages began which led to correctional institutions seeking alternative means for execution of death row inmates.
The FDA itself has no vested interest one way or another; look no further that the political climate today further up the food chain.
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How about the victims whose guts were hanging out after being stabbed, or the wife whose husband was shot in the head during a home invasion, or the father whose child was raped and murdered? Ask any of them what they think about a the convicted "taking a gasp". Pretty sure they would say "F@ck 'em".
Ok, no death penalty, how about you spend 23 hrs a day in a 6x6 box. No contact with anyone else. No exercise, MREs for food (good enough for our troops), no TV. Prison should suck. And, if you attack a guard, lethal force is authorized (hey, you were given a 2nd chance, and you failed).
Ok, no death penalty, how about you spend 23 hrs a day in a 6x6 box. No contact with anyone else. No exercise, MREs for food (good enough for our troops), no TV. Prison should suck. And, if you attack a guard, lethal force is authorized (hey, you were given a 2nd chance, and you failed).
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MSgt Curtis Ellis
CMSgt James Nolan Totally agree with you Chief, I wish there would be an "eye for an eye" clause for the execution based on the murder they committed...
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CMSgt James Nolan
MSgt Curtis Ellis - It might give someone pause, although, in most cases that it is all it would do. When folks stop caring about the illegal taking of human life, not much else matters...
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